Wellington man tackles his own Everest in the Coast to Coast

Wellington man Richard Warwick faces his own personal ‘Everest’ 34 years after suffering a brain bleed that paralysed the left side of his body, the Speight’s Coast to Coast mountain run.

A father of five, he says after watching his children grow up and supporting them from the sporting sidelines it’s now his turn to ‘do something for me.’

“I’ve been genuinely surprised in how inspirational others have found me entering the Coast to Coast is,” he says. “My kids are very proud, but I’m under no illusions at how hard it will be as I know there’s a real risk in me doing it, it’s by far the biggest physical challenge of my life, it’s my Everest to knock off.”

Fifty year old Richard, who still has weakness down his left side of his body, walks with a limp and has no movement in his left hand, had to relearn how to walk and was told he’d never run again.

Richard went from a baby’s brain to gaining some ability again but not the ability to run and balance is a challenge so he has enlisted the help of good friend, Tim James, who did the event this year with his son in a family team.

Tim will provide support on the 33 kilometre run that has multiple river crossings and challenging terrain that includes large boulders, steep bush trails and tricky tree roots as it climbs through the Deception Gorge to over 1000 metres in altitude at Goat Pass before descending down the Mingha River valley to Klondyke Corner.

“I went down this year as part of Tim’s support crew and the atmosphere of the event just blew me away. The comradery, the beauty of the West Coast and the whole experience of sleeping in a van; I loved every minute of it so was hooked.”

It was while staying in Christchurch after the event the suggestion came up to do it next year which at first Richard dismissed until being told an amputee had done it in the past.

“So all my objections eventually come to nothing that was good enough to say no, so the decision to enter was made, and the challenge has really gained momentum.”

Richard contacted Race Director Richard Ussher to discuss his entry, who he says was ‘really encouraging, saying how keen he was to wider the appeal and accessibility of the race.’

Richard’s training has included lots of walking off trail, getting out in the bush near Wellington as much as he can to replicate the difficult nature of the mountain run as best he can, but he’s not planning on having a practice run over the course until race day in February, saying he wants to ‘maintain the mystique’ of it all.

“I do want to make sure I’ve done as much planning and preparation as I can, but I’m not doing it on my own, you need other people around you that support and encourage you, so I’m really lucky to have that. I’m really pumped and really looking forward to it. It’s not going to be about the time it takes, it’s about the feeling of getting over the finish line, that’s what’s going to count. Attitude is the difference between an ordeal and an adventure, and this is a massive adventure.”

Numbers for February’s event are tracking well above recent years. A range of new initiatives, including live timing, GPS tracking, better use of social media, live updates during racing and refinements to some of the transitions are planned. A much improved festival style atmosphere at the new finish line in New Brighton is also a feature of next year’s event.